TRAGEDY: Orange County REMC lineman dies in accident

ORLEANS, Ind. (WDRB) -- A freak accident ends with a local utility worker dying on the job. Brent Minton was a 33-year-old husband and father of two and a deacon in his church.

He spent his life on the lines, working for Orange County REMC Electric Co-op. Just before 8:00 Tuesday morning, that life came to a tragic end.

Danny Arnold of the Orange County REMC explains, "He was doing a routine task loading a pole with the assistance of two other employees when it fell lose from the cradle and struck him in the head and he was killed instantly."

As of Tuesday afternoon, the pole that fell from the truck as well as the truck itself will remain in place until the company and Indiana safety officials can complete their investigations.

"I saw the police car and ambulances," says Pauline Lalich, who watched the sadness unfold from her back yard. A fence is the only thing separating her home from the pole yard where Minton died.

"I knew something had happened but I didn't know what," she said. When someone called to tell her the news, she says, "It shocked me, it just really shocked me and I am really sorry."

In Orleans Indiana, a community of just 2,000 people, Minton was known as a hometown guy. "Everybody knew Brent, he was a fine young man, Arnold said.

The journeyman lineman completed an apprenticeship after graduating Paoli High School, followed his father into the utility business, and worked at REMC for 12 years.

Arnold says, "We'll be investigating this for quite some time to see if anything could have been done different."

Knowing those answers may not ease the pain for those that knew him best -- family and friends.

Arnold says, "We're carrying on but obviously it hits very close to home. We have only 23 employees and we all work together well every day."

WDRB's Gilbert Corsey looked into Orange County REMC safety records and found them completely clean., with no prior federal or state OSHA violations or investigations in the last 20 years.